Sleepy Hollow Club
by Sky.Fay
Summary: Jude Van Tassel was brought up in a life of chaos, and uncertainty. Two things she feared the most. The moment she met a young Jonathan Crane she was infatuated, but life led her away, and now there was only the criminally insane on Stryker Island to concern herself about. What happens when her dark past with the Scarecrow catch up with her?SHORT HIATUS BECAUSE I LOST ALL MY FILES
1. Prequel Pt 1

Jude Van Tassel had been born into her future before she knew it. Though for the most part her choices were her own, it seems her future was a jumble of the decision of others.

"DO I HAVE A SINGLE GODDAMN CLEAN SHIRT?"

Jude pressed her hands over her temples, and slowly curled into a ball upon her bed. The angry footsteps trampled down the step as her mother made some weak retort back to monster. The monster was her father.

"Well then how come I can't find a single fucking one?!"

She closed her eyes, and pulled the comforter closer to her chin as they argued about shirts, and laundry. The dogs yipped, and barked until he let out another terrifying roar. Something slammed, and both dogs whimpered.

Jude quivered in her bed, and held her book closer to her chest. She could feel her breath become short and shallower, though she didn't know what was going on.

It feels like I'm drowning.

She bit her bottom lip, and closed her eyes tighter. As he yelled once more, she felt like screaming.

"Clean your own shirts, Rick."

Her soft whisper couldn't had made it out of the blankets, but it made her feel good. Silently she wished that for once she could stand up to him, but that would be impossible. He was too angry all the time, and too reckless. In her mind flashed the clear memory of him crashing the car just because he was in a bad mood.

As the yelling slowed she cringed as she heard her mothers forced laughter. The woman was a desperate idiot staying with that mad, Jude thought. Her mind skimmed over the countless times Kathy had promised her that they would leave if he exploded one more time. She had started doing that when Jude was five to calm her down, and now the girl was nearly eleven.

Her shaky hands opened the page of the old book that was in need of repair, and she immersed herself once more. Rick had sold the rest of her books when panicking about the families financial standing; all except The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. She had clung to it like it was her saving salvation, and in a way it was, and forever would be. It would also be her downfall.

Now the argument concerning fate could drag on forever, but it is undeniable that the introduction of Jonathan Crane into Jude Van Tassel's life drastically changed her entire future.

She was smitten from the moment she crashed into him on the sidewalk as the other kids tormented him, and threw rocks. All she could offer was a small smile behind large glasses and messy dark blonde hair. Her breath caught at how his ice blue eyes were, almost the same light shade as her own. It didn't matter how awkward or gangly he was or that his dark hair was always a mess.

"They make fun of you for your stutter, you know." He sat beside Jude on a bench at recess, making sure he was as far away as possible. She looked up from her book.

"I know."

He nodded, but didn't speak.

"They make fun of you too. It's because you're so skinny, and you always look like you're scared to death."

"I know."

She nodded, returning to her book.

"You don't talk like a normal ten-year-old."

"I don't spend a lot of time with other ten-year-old's."

"Who do you spend time with?"

"Myself, and my parents. Mostly myself."

"Are they married?"

She brushed over how insensitive he could be in her head, but watched as he relaxed into the bench. Her eyes swept back to the words in front of her, though she wasn't really reading them.

"No, but they live together."

Again he said nothing, but simply nodded.

The bell chimed loudly for the children to lineup and go inside, Jude tensed her arms, and shifted uncomfortably.

"Are you scared of that?"

"No."

"Liar."

She turned her back with a huff.

"Goodbye, Jonathan."

"Goodbye, Jude."

He said it just quietly enough that she could only barely hear as she tucked the book into her jacket pocket, and pulled the zipper shut. October was her favorite month, but spending too much time outside in the cold was not her favorite activity.

This went on for months. Jude would sit at her bench, and soon enough Jonathan would join her, and ask personal questions until time was up, and they had to go back inside. Some days he looked more like death than others, and some days he didn't come to school, and would come back looking ten times worse.

She understood perfectly well why, but there was no need to push. He hadn't questioned her, so why do the same to him?

Jude happily hummed as she floundered around the fields near the abandoned chapel on the outskirts of the town. A small hope in her sparked that maybe she would see Jonathan, but she knew that was too far off to be true. He did live nearby, but there was no reason he would out in the old chapel of all places.

The May wind swished up her hair around her eyes, and the tall grass as she fell onto the ground.

This was the only way to get away from her parents, she had discovered. They didn't mind as long as she yelled a gentle goodbye or left a note. It would only be her mother who would follow her on occasion, but her father simply cursed her as she left.

Setting Sleepy Hollow beside her, she pondered life without her father. It would be much more pleasant. Maybe her mother wouldn't be as mean, or crass. And maybe she could actually talk to people without being afraid that they were going to blow up just like he did. Her worst fear was to become either of her parents, so she decided that she was going to fall in love with Jonathan.

He was to timid to ever yell or be mean. He was nice to her no matter what, she thought.

A sudden shriek burst from within the walls of the church. Jude jumped to her feet with a start, keeping her eyes locked on the rotting wooden doors. The screech came again, only louder. It sounded less human this time. She could feel her hands shaking as she tried to slowly back away from the building. The dirt road seemed so far away now, and her legs felt like stone being pulled into the earth.

Five or ten screeches came at the same time, they sounded like crows. Along with another one from whatever other creature was being torn limb from limb inside.

Suddenly the feeling returned in her legs, and she was set free. Her feet ran faster than they ever could in gym class all the way down the dirt road, and straight back into her hellish home.

As she caught her warm breath, wheezing and coughing, she realized she had forgotten something.

Her book.

The book.

The only book that she still had left, the one that had kept her sane, and made sure she was alright throughout everything. The reason she had become friends with Jonathan Crane, because she thought it was fate that she happened the have the same last name as another character in the stories.

It was amazing how one little thing could make a ten-year-old's life come crashing down around her.

* * *

><p><strong>So this didn't quite upload correctly the first time whoops. Anyhow, this little back story will be over with in a chapter or two I think, then I'll move on to the actual story. Sorry if anyone read this while it was messed up. Anyway I'm picking and choosing things from the comics and movies, so it won't really stick to either because I like both tbh. Also I changed part of the Sleepy Hollow story because I realized that<strong>


	2. Prequel Pt 2

**Yeh, I changed the rating to M because of violence. (I don't really go into detail though just because I'm not into that). Also mild sexual situations, but eh. **

* * *

><p>Jude sat in the small enclosure her and Jonathan spent time in together. She would steal away from the screaming nearly every day once they had decided on a spot. It was near her families cabin which resided in the woods between her house and his. About five years ago she had found him here, reading her book.<p>

She refused to tell him it was her's, though she knew he had his speculations. He admitted to suffering his grandmother's torture, and though Jude offered to call services to help him soon after, he refused her help threatening to do the same for her. It was a vicious cycle for both.

Occasionally Jonathan would comfort Jude as she sputtered through another panic attack, or stuttered in front of the entire class. In return she would leave water, and bandages at the church, after realizing that those horrifying screams were him being attacked by the crows.

Jude shivered, crossing her arms, and shrinking into herself. Her hand shakily poked out from her sleeve to clutch around the pencil that tried to finish her homework. It had been too loud at home again. Her mother was crying over the fact that both of their dogs were dead now, and Rick wouldn't stop throwing dirty dishes in an attempt to scare her into silence. Though she silently hoped Jon would appear at any moment, she knew it was useless.

"He's in l-l-love with Sherri anyway now." She said through clattering teeth, though the October chill wasn't why her words were stuttering. "He wouldn't want to spend any time with m-m-m-me." As tears pricked at her eyes, she stuffed the finished math into her ratty bag, and flopped onto her back looking up at the red leaves. With the swirling tears in her eyes, they reminded her of blood.

* * *

><p>"...I mean I guess I just don't understand why Mr. Duke has to give out so many of those stupid pamphlets. I'm pretty sure I know what..."<p>

Jude looked up from her packed lunch of leftover pasta, picking out the cold chunks of beef. Her jaw clenched as she watched Jon's eyes stay locked on the girl.

"Jon, just tell me to stop talking if all you're going to do is stare at Sherri."

"I can multitask. Wait-I wasn't staring at Sherri!" He spun around to look at her for the first time that day. She eyed his gaunt face warily. He looked worse today than usual.

"Did you have a bad night?"

"Why do you care?" He scoffed, returning to his prior occupation of staring at the beautiful, strawberry blonde girl.

Jude looked into her lap. She couldn't understand why of all people Jonathan had an obsession with Sherri Squires. It didn't even matter to her that it was another girl, it just didn't make sense that it was Sherri Squires. The prettiest, most popular girl in the entire senior class, and smart too. If Sherri had just been those things Jude wouldn't hold a grunge against her, but the girl was evil. That certainly wasn't someone that Jude thought she could stand a chance against, but she thought that Jonathan could see through her kind facade, and realize how cruel she, and the rest of them were. They had been the ones to throw rocks at him, and call him Scarecrow when he was young for god's sake!

Sherri's pretty green eyes flicked over to Jonathan, and caught Jude's wandering pale blue one's instead. Her long, shiny hair bounced as she flicked it back over her shoulder, leaning against Bo Griggs, and returning to their lunches.

Bo Griggs was the most disgusting human she had come in contact with on Earth besides her own father, Jude thought.

Once he had purposely grazed his hand far too personally over her body, and she had broken two of his fingers, and sprained his wrist in a flurried panic. The principle had simply told her that she shouldn't start things, and she had In School Suspension for a week.

"I don't understand," she whispered inaudibly. She chewed her bottom lip as she ate until it began to bleed, watching Jon stare, and steal glances the entire time.

It felt like there was a rock in her stomach.

* * *

><p>As they walked down the pavement from school side by side Jude silently fumed as Jonathan gushed over Sherri Squires. For the most part she droned out his nonsensical babbling. It was like dealing with her parents.<p>

"...spoke to me, so I was thinking of asking her to that party."

"What the hell is wrong with you, Jonathan?"

Even he had to step back at how icy her tone was.

"Excuse me?"

He slacked a few paces behind her.

"You've been obsessed with Sherri Squires since this year started, and for no reason! You've hated her, and the rest of them since we-"

"Don't just lump her with the rest of them!"

"Well she is just like the rest of them, sorry to ruin your perfect view of your p-p-princess! She locked me in the gym bathrooms, and she's always trying to pull stupid stunts. Especially after I broke Bo's fingers. So even after-"

"You're such a child! You wouldn't understand why-"

"I am t-two years younger than you! I can understand emotions, and feelings perfectly fine. I can even understand insanity, but this is just plain stupidity. What are you thinking? D-d-do you think that she'll actually-"

Jude cut herself off, and took a step back. There were people staring. Most of the school was staring. They were the two most invisible people in this town, but now it seemed that their cloaks had suddenly vanished, and they were left out on a platter. She could hear the laughter, and the whispering. It clouded her mind as her heart sped up.

"You are jealous, and pathetic." He sneered down at her.

"Yeah, but at least I'm realistic. I know that you don't..." she didn't finish.

As she turned her back the hoard of people seemed to dissipate.

"I won't regret this!" He called up to her, clutching his messenger bag so tightly his pale knuckles went whiter than usual.

She didn't look back at him, keeping her eyes on the pavement. Her hand lazily came up to give him a thumbs up. She didn't have the energy to do anything more.

* * *

><p>That night she didn't go straight home. Her parents had become accustomed to this, and didn't mind at all now. Either way they thought she was with that awkward, skinny boy that her father made fun of, and her mother whispered about his sexuality.<p>

She wandered through the forest, up to the family cabin dragging her feet by the place where her and Jonathan had spent so much wasted time together. None of that mattered now, at least not to him.

"We've never argued like this," she sighed clutching an old picture of the two of them. It was in a square locket that she always hid in secret pockets sewn into her clothes. Neither of them looked happy in the photo, so it was more or less revealing about the truth. "Maybe been in disagreements as to certain aspects of human nature, and the possibility of aliens, but...but you've never been this stupid." She slumped onto the comfy bed in the small cabin. There was a kitchen, and a tiny fire place all in one open room.

It always smelled like stale burnt wood and rust no matter how many candles she lit or how many times she would clean the one room cabin, or the bath that was behind a curtain in the back near the fire. There were two windows; one by the old, barely working stove, and one at the foot of the bed. The wind made the entire building clatter, and shake, but that didn't keep Jude from pulling her blankets over her face and falling asleep.

* * *

><p>She wasn't entirely sure what time it was when she woke up, but it was dark outside, and the wind seemed to have stopped completely. As soon as she stepped outside, it felt as though something were wrong. The feeling wasn't just coming from the dark trees around her. This time, her feet ran just as fast as they had when she had first heard Jonathan's screams, and the cawing crows. The day she had lost her special book.<p>

Her short curly, wiry hair was getting caught in branches, and the old dingy over-sized brown sweater she always wore wasn't helping her from getting scrapped by invisible pricker bushes. A sharp pain coursed up from her ankle as her foot slipped on a mossy rock, but she ignored it for now. The only sound she could hear was her heartbeat even as she broke the treeline, and b-lined to her house.

The cold air made the insides of her lungs burn even though the autumn air smelled so nice. Tears were welling up in her eyes before she even saw the dim lights on in their one floor house. She tried to wipe them away with one hand, but only smeared water onto her glasses. As she got closer, and closer the feeling in her legs seemed to give out. Her chest felt like shards of glass were stuck in it, and her stomach felt like a buzzing rock.

As she slowed to the front door, she paused.

The television was on. It wasn't a channel either of her parents liked though, it was one of those music channels. The loud classical music that made it sound as if the volume was all the way up on the television. Her mind raked itself finding the name of the Chopin piece to be his Scherzo No. 2 Op. 31.

"How ironic?" Her voice shook, but she let out a sharp bark of laughter. A shaking hand went out to reach for the cold metal door handle. She could already smell something was off behind the thin walls, and screen of the door. The house always smelled like leftovers vanilla, not like rust and pennies.

The door quietly shut behind her.

"...A song about love," she soundlessly found herself in the kitchen, and without truly thinking, picked up a long sharp knife. "In a house that doesn't have any."

Wide-eyed, and slumped over she looked almost like a deranged animal of some kind.

A tear spilled over as she came into the living room where the music was playing. She only glanced at her mothers mangled form for a moment before throwing up in her mouth, and turning away. It looked like he had strangled her, and then snapped her neck. Her head was facing the wrong direction. The blood was coming from some unknown place of her midsection, and she was still holding a dull knife.

"You tried to kill yourself?" Jude spat. "What? So you could get away from this place? It never works like that, Mommy. It just doesn't work like that." Her voice was lower, and hoarser than usual.

Her feet dragged into the master bedroom, not caring anymore if he heard her.

She could just barely make out Rick's unbridled sobbing over the love song of the piano.

She found him, sitting in a chair facing the perfectly made bed, cradling a large bottle of rum in one hand, and whiskey in the other. He was muttering prayers to the Lord, and shaking uncontrollably. She suppressed a laugh, and walked until she was inches behind him, the knife touching his throat.

"I...bu-I loved her, Jude. You gotta know that-"

His body jerked as she jerked the knife into his skin once. Then again. And again. And fourteen more times. There was an awful popping and squelching noises each time, and the smell of blood and alcohol sickened her. Then it was over. He was gone. She was free.

Jude set the knife down beside the still-bleeding corpse on the floor, and turned on her heel to go to her room. She stripped herself of the ratty jeans, and sweater she had been wearing for a pair not splattered with drying blood. Her body was shaking, and everything ached, but she didn't know what else to do, so she went back outside, and walked.

* * *

><p>She knew where she was going. It was the party that Jonathan had asked Sherri Squires to.<p>

"A lot has happened today," her voice was light an airy, but with an edge, "Maybe the world's turned upside down, and Jonathan Crane is fucking Sherri Squires in a back room. I just killed my father, so nothing would surprise me now!" It felt like she was screaming, but her voice was in a low whisper. As she dragged herself down the avenue she heard other feet running, and ducked into the nearest alleyway on instinct.

"There's nothing to be scared of, Jude." She held her own hand, pretending she had another to soothe her. "You can do anything. You're perfect. Everything is just dandy. It's all going to go-"

"C'mon, Scarecrow! What kind of Scarecrow runs away like that?!"

The terrible horse laughter rose up in swells, as did the pretty, pixie-like laughter from another.

It was Bo Griggs and Sherri Squires.

Maybe things were back to normal, she thought.

As she stepped back into the street she looked up the avenue to her left just as a pumpkin smashed across Jonathan's back. Her eyes widened, and her jaw clenched. His back still wasn't completely healed from the last time his grandmother...

There was more awful laughter.

"You actually thought you had a chance, dumb-ass?!"

She couldn't see them, only Jonathan as he fell to his knees in defeat, though he didn't make a noise.

It may have looked as though his body was shaking with fear, but Jude could tell it was closer to rage.

Her feet moved toward him before her mind could think. When she was only a mere ten feet away, someone caught her arm. Bo threw her back so hard, she stumbled onto the sidewalk, and back into a brick building.

"You can't help him, bitch." He whispered lowly. "And you're not going to. Now go home, and cry to your-"

"You really think that's going to scare me? You're just a fuckass who's going to end up in a dead end life before he's-"

The brute's hand covered her mouth as her socked her in the gut so she couldn't make a sound. Salty water spilled over, but not from the pain of the punch, it was her delayed emotions catching up to her. Her eyes were shut firmly, but she felt a sharp kick in her back, and curled closer to herself.

When she finally opened her eyes they were gone, and so was Jonathan. She was alone again.

* * *

><p>The next week was a blur for Jude. She gave her mother a proper burial in their back yard that night, and after hurriedly cutting the other body into pieces and limbs, discarded him around the woods for the animals to eat, always keeping check to make sure no one saw. Even their family was invisible, and no one would care, but she couldn't be too careful.<p>

She crouched by Rick's half-eaten calf-the crows had taken to his body more than the coyotes or bears- and contemplated missing another week of school, but decided against it at the last second, and rushed back home to get rid of the everlasting stench of death, and make it in time for the bell.

The entire school was somber, in a fragile glass-like way when she entered. No one looked happy, and everyone was crying or at least looked like they hadn't slept in days. Even the teachers took on a somber mask. She didn't know what to make of it.

Soon enough, she caught Jonathan who was easily putting his books away in his locker for once.

"Why is-"

"Where have you-"

There started together.

She motioned for Jon to keep talking.

"Where have you been? It's been a week, you never miss this much, and you look as though you haven't slept at all either." He slid his jacket off his bony shoulders, and into the locker, and shut it loudly. The simple noise seemed to make the entire school jump in terror. He chuckled lowly.

"Yeah, maybe later. Now tell me why everyone is so quiet."

"You haven't seen it on the news?"

"No, just tell me."

"Sherri Squires and Bo Griggs got in a terrible accident. She died, and he's permanently paralyzed." A small grin perked the sides of his usually straight lips.

Jude bit her lip, to hold back a small smile of her own. It was wrong, she couldn't be happy because of this. She let the smile transform itself into a grimace.

"You seem happy."

"I don't see how I couldn't be."

"You're never happy."

"Well, I don't think..."

"Did you have something to do with it?"

"I would ne-"

"It's alright if you do, I mean I-"

The bell chimed, and he was out of her sight before she could get another word out. Smirking, she pulled her bag higher on her shoulder, and dragged herself to class.

* * *

><p>Jude nearly screamed when someone grabbed her arm on the way to her study hall in the library.<p>

"Jonathan, what are you doing?!"

He rarely would humor anyone touching him, let alone touching someone else.

Even so his spindly fingers kept their grip on her wrist.

"I need to tell you something, and you need to tell me something."

He dragged her into the room devoid of people, but full of books. Even the librarian wasn't in there, he was probably taking his second lunch break. He pulled her past the aisles of books, and shelves of encyclopedias to the very back where there were three bean bag chairs that were so old, and lumpy no one ever bothered to sit in them any more.

He pushed her down onto the gray lump of a chair with more strength than she thought he had, and sat beside her.

"Yes, I am the reason for the accident, but I didn't predict that this would be the outcome."

Slowly his body relaxed as he saw no change, or look of disgust sprawl across her face. He jumped when she let out a small cackling laugh, that sounded like bird. She rested into the beanbag again as he did, and nearly had her head leaning on his shoulder.

"I killed Rick. That night of the party. It must've been before those jackasses threw a pumpkin at you, or sometime then. I can't really remember. I just got done burying some of his bones."

Jonathan laughed quietly, and strained.

"Wait, you saw them do that?" He said through gasps of air.

"Yeah," she smirked, "I was going to help, but Bo punched me, and when I got up you were gone. How's your back?"

"Better now, I suppose."

She nodded plainly.

"I need to leave."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet. I just know that I need to go before anyone finds anything out."

"What about your parents workplaces? Won't they be looking for them?"

"My mom got fired a couple weeks ago I forgot to tell you, but if anyone comes for Rick I guess I could just say that he left."

"You know, you should have left your mothers body in place, gotten rid of Rick's, and then said he had killed her, and left."

"I thought about that, but I think it's best to stay as far away from the police as possible."

"You really think the police around here could or would do anything? We're nobodies, and so are our families. They would take anything to get you to quiet down."

"Whatever," she shifted away from him, "I'm not going into foster care. Besides it's too late now. I just want to leave."

"How would you finish school?"

"I don't know, maybe I could try to get in with...I really don't know."

The lamps buzzed above them, and the overly clean smell of the library invaded their noses. Jude shivered though she wasn't cold, she could feel Jonathan's eyes resting on her.

"Go to your family cabin. Live there until the end of the year. It's easy enough to trick those home schooling companies into giving you materials, and a GED. Finish by the end of the year, and go to college."

She scoffed.

"It can't be that simple."

Curling into herself, she faced away from him. Staring at the binding of a Bible. Inwardly, she cringed, the last thing she wanted to see was that book. A cool hand wrapped around her shoulder, forcing her to face him.

"Yes, it can." He said sternly.

She believed him.

* * *

><p>Surprisingly, it was that simple. The two had easily conned a homeschooling agency into mailing them enough for Jude to finish high school with. She moved her personal items to the cabin little by little, having Jonathan bring her food, and other toiletries.<p>

She rolled over in the warm bed reading over a paragraph of The Clergyman's Daughter for a third time, but not bothering to focus again. It had been nearly a week since she had seen Jonathan. Nearly a week of zero human interaction, and she felt like she was going to explode. She finished all her work early in the morning and late at night.

Often times her mind was not occupied with the murder of her father, it was not something that altogether bothered her. His death was already justified in her mind. His bones had been scavenged by the crows, and the rest buried deep in their basement by the coal furnace.

Every now and then she worried that the rustle outside might be the police that had finally come to get her. She had already decided that she wouldn't deny them, she might even act proud of what she had done.

Fully giving up on the book for the time being, she rolled herself out of bed, and began to run the bathwater to the claw foot tub. As the tub filled she watched the snow slowly falling onto the trees, and already white ground.

It was nearly halfway through March, and the snow was still sticking to the ground with a silent fury. Sometimes she worried that maybe Jonathan had died, though it was a silly thought. His grandmother was cruel, and leaving a person to the wrath of crows, and the cold was enough to kill them. To her it was impressive that he was a babbling mess.

* * *

><p><strong>I realized that this was getting a little long for what I wanted the chapters to be, so there'll be one more backstory chapter after this just to finish it off, and then we'll get to the story dear lord.<strong>


	3. Prequel Pt 3

**This chapter contains mildly sexual content. I put the rating up to M basically because of this just to make sure.**

* * *

><p>Jonathan silently watched as Jude's back arched, and her body gave off a small tremor. He stood outside, shivering in the cold March snow. His body ached to move, but he had stopped, and watched her not really realizing what she had been doing until then. With shaking legs, and numb fingers he rushed to the door, and stood composing himself for a minute.<p>

His hand raised to knock, but it shook in the icy wind, and grabbed for the door handle instead. Adjusting the crooked, and now fogging glasses upon his face he stormed in, not bothering to look at Jude.

"Jonathan!" She yelped, and hid herself under the closest blanket.

"Afternoon." He said solemnly.

"You haven't been here...I wasn't expecting you to-"

She paused as he turned to look at her. He set the bag down in front of the small fireplace, and peeled off his coat-never taking his eyes off of her.

Jude felt like her throat was closing. He usually knocked. Though she was warmer than him, her hands shook, clutching the thick quilt closer to her body. She counted the seconds as he took steps closer to her.

"She's gone."

Jude nodded, understanding him. He had talked about this before, many times; killing his grandmother had been on his mind for a long time, and once he figured out the chemical combination to what she had been forcing him to be smothered in it was only a matter of time.

"You won't get caught?"

"She was old. Besides, playing around with dangerous things can get people hurt." He gently sat on the bed, forcing the quilt to fall lower on Jude's body. "Accidents happen all the time."

She maintained his eye contact. It was simple to see he was trying to intimidate her again. He had done this many times before, tried to make her scared of him in any way possible. Sometimes she felt like an experiment, but that didn't lessen her still meaningless feelings towards him.

"Why didn't you knock?"

"I had too many things in my hands, and I wanted to tell you my news."

"I don't believe you." She let the quilt drop a little more. This was the only way to win the game, she told herself. The heat rose up in his cheeks. "I know the cold doesn't do too much, but turn you pink, but I think your face was a little redder when you came in than usual."

"It wasn't this cold the last time I was here." He said evenly, and turned away from her in an act of defiance. She hadn't quite won yet though.

"You could be the best liar in the world, and you aren't even trying." She whispered into his neck. Letting the quilt drop to her waist, she lightly pressed her chest to his back. "You've lost, you can't surprise me, Jonathan. I've known you for too long."

"You won't do it."

She watched the corner of his mouth lift in a smirk.

Her brow furrowed, and she pursed her lips. He couldn't win again.

She waited for a moment, barely breathing, until he moved his head with that stupid smirk still plastered there ready to make her admit her defeat.

Her hands shot out to grab the collar of his soft, black sweater. He kept his stare hard, and cold on her as she was millimeters away from him.

"Liar."

One of his thin hands reached up to wrap around her shoulder, but she caught his wrist, feeling his pulse shoot up along with hers.

"As clever as you might be you can't win your way out of-"

Jude was stopped as Jonathan's mouth crashed onto hers. His still freezing hands dug into her bare waist, and he pinned her to the bed. Goosebumps raised on her body, but she was suppressing a laugh as he pulled away.

"I can't believe out of all things you would fall for reverse psychology. It's barely a proven method..."

He raised an eyebrow at her, still smirking.

"I hate you."

His face nestled into her neck, she bristled as she felt his teeth scrape against her skin. She was shaking, they had never done anything like this before. Her mind raced; he didn't necessarily have feelings for her, and she wasn't sure what her feelings for him were.

"Your body seems to think otherwise."

His cold hands trailed up and down her waist.

"Why are you doing this?"

It was only a question to fill the growing silence as one of his hands trailed down her hip to her thigh. She was the only person he could dominate.

"We're bored, and you like this."

"You don't do things for other people." She breathed as he moved her wrists above her head with one hand. He didn't speak as his hand traced along the inside of her thigh. All at once he stopped, and she let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

"The mind's control over the body is something to marvel at isn't it?" Sitting on the edge of the bed again he held up her hand. "You're still shaking."

She pulled her hand away, and pulled the blanket up again.

"Just let me go put on clothes, dumbass." Jude rasped out.

He made a small noise, nodded, and lifted himself to walk over to the other side of room, and began methodically putting groceries in the wooden cabinets. Jude pulled herself off of the bed, and rummaged through the trunk at the end of her bed for jeans and a sweater. She grimaced realizing that she was still shaky, and he was completely fine.

Stretching so her spine popped, Jude dragged herself to the counter where Jonathan was sitting, and scrawling something in handwriting only he could read. As she glanced over his shoulder, less than interested, he folded the paper, and shoved it into his pocket.

"I'm going to Gotham."

"You were accepted to Gotham University?" She asked blandly, pulling a wooden stool from under the counter, and sitting. She rested her chin in her hands, and stared outside through the window at the falling snow.

"Of course."

"It's for the better."

"What is?"

"I'm going to Metropolis and you're going to Gotham. We won't have to see each other ever again. Besides, that leaves less of a chance of you reporting me for murder."

He didn't respond for a long time, but tapped his fingers quietly on the hard wood. He didn't appear affected by the facts, and she doubted that he was. As life had changed completely for Jude late the year before, she knew that nothing would be the same. Whenever she thought about it, she despised the melodramatic nature, and air of it all, but it didn't change a single thing.

"Obviously, though I still don't understand why you chose to go to Metropolis, their departments are less than-"

"I knew that you were going to Gotham. Metropolis is further away from here than Gotham is anyhow."

"It's because I..."

"What happens if someone finds out about the things that you've done?! Or the things that I've done? If we go together that would look way to weird to some-"

"Can you even say it out loud?"

"What? Say wha-"

"What we did. You can't even say it." He said accusingly. There was so much venom in his tone all of sudden, and his eyes had gone into that stale icy way that they did only when he was on the verge of fury. Jude nearly rolled her eyes at his flustered state.

"I killed my father. I murdered him. I stabbed him. More than fifteen times. You want to know what you did? You scared a couple of imbeciles; killed one and left the other one in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Then you killed the worst person in your life with the thing she'd been using to hurt you for years. Are you happy?" She scoffed, pushing herself away from the counter, and moving to the old cooler filled with ice and snow from outside, and grabbed the freezing metal canister of water from it.

"Never."

* * *

><p>There weren't many other memorable conversations, at least not to Jude years later. As soon as graduation was over with Jonathan moved away to Gotham, and she rented a shabby apartment outside of Metropolis waiting for move-in day months later. College went by without much fault, not many people seemed to notice that she was a bit young, and the professors never mentioned it.<p>

She blended in as she had in high school, and how she assumed she would the rest of her life. Jonathan never made any attempts to contact her, and she him. On occasion she kept tabs on his life. It was a simple task after his first stunt with what the media stated he called Fear Gas. When the Gotham reports stated he called himself Scarecrow, she almost laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter just to end the backstory stuff! We'll get to the actual story now! Anyway Jonathan doesn't actually have any feelings towards Jude (while they're teens) and she doesn't really either, but at this point she feels as though he's the only one who can understand her so she should like him, and vice versa. Also at this point this is the only person Jonathan can mess with so he does.<strong>


	4. Serenade

**This is more of filler, get the plot to start kind of chapter that still needs a lot of brushing up, so skim over it if you like**

* * *

><p>Jude Van Tassel was sitting in her dark apartment, trying not to pay attention to the news. The newscaster had finally stopped glorifying Superman for two minutes to talk about the Batman in Gotham City. Apparently some villain had rose out of the dust again, and there was chaos as usual. When the robotic man on the television managed to get to Jonathan, she chuckled.<p>

Nothing about his current life surprised her. When he was interviewed as Scarecrow he seemed to have completely lost it, but other than that he was largely the same. Colder, and less weak than he had been when they were young, but so was she. Given the motivation she thought it could be possible that she could end up like him, but circumstances were different.

Living in Metropolis, and working at Stryker's Island was much different than what she imagined Gotham, and Arkham Asylum to be. Though she was slightly sympathetic with his situation and ideals, she couldn't allow herself to lose it as he had.

She saw what happened to the prisoners on Stryker's, and she didn't want to be like that. Her thoughts were constantly twisted, and criminal.

"I'm too scared to do anything." She whispered the end of the though to herself aloud.

Jonathan had been right about fear controlling life.

"But what would we do without it?" Jude sighed, and nimbly walked to the dimly lit kitchen. She placed the still warm bowl of what had held oatmeal into the sink.

Pulling on the thick, woolly trench coat she check the calender hanging on the fridge for the third time.

Lunch with Logan and Terra.

Her face made a small grimace, as she stared at the writing grabbing her bag from the counter. They were as close to friends as what Jude had made when she had been in college. However, she had also accidentally killed Terra's girlfriend, so meetings like these always left a bitter taste in her mouth. It hadn't entirely been her fault. She could barely remember the girl's name- Ginny, or Winny, or something like that- but she remembered how the woman had screamed, and yelled at Terra. It was abuse. Jude couldn't stand it to see it. Thankfully she had been working with some chemists at the time, and had access to hydrofluoric acid.

She didn't remember much about the night, only that Terra didn't find out, and that she had been wearing all black, and blood was less noticeable than her first time.

Letting go of the grimace, and the pointless memory she stepped out the door with a swish.

* * *

><p>The day seemed to drag on longer than most, yet there was a still a feeling in the pit of her stomach as if something bad was going to happen. She zoned in, and out of her least important patient's general complaints about the food, and staff. None of them seemed to matter anyway. Being a criminal psychologist was not what she had planned for in life.<p>

Her Cognitive Neuroscience degree, and bio-chem studying had been to develop drugs for those with insomnia, schizophrenia, and any other disorder she might be able to help. She didn't plan on helping everyone that Superman put behind bars say that they were insane. It was boring, unforgiving work that didn't get her anywhere except back to her dirty apartment building on the outskirts of the city.

"Dr. Van Tassel! Miss, please! Are you leaving already? I needed you to-"

"Only refer to me as Doctor, Eric." She said sternly, giving the lanky man a stern glare. He was still an intern, hoping to become a psychologist for the criminals, and transfer to Arkham one day. Though she hadn't grown much since she was fifteen, and had stayed at a measly 5'2", she learned to carry herself in a way that made even the burliest 7' criminals fear her. They said it was the way her eyes darkened, but she could never tell. "If you're going to work at Arkham one day you should learn to follow a very strict code of conduct and respect."

"I heard at Arkham the psychologists bend to every wish of the Rogues. I don't want to be like that. I want to change that!" He said resolutely, seemingly forgetting what he was initially tracking her down for, though now he held a steady pace with her.

"I had frie...I've made the acquaintanceship of many of the psychologists working there, and I believe they are well within their right. I know you have dreams, Eric, but in the real world arguing with a woman or man who had killed, robbed, or tortured from hundreds over whether they get a few more hours free time is really the least of your concerns. Generally these tactics are used with something in turn, and people such as the Rogues are easily manipulated if you think it through well enough."

He paused for a long while, staring hard at the blue concrete floor.

"I suppose you're right..."

"What did you need, Eric?" She bit the inside of her lip. "I don't mean to sound rude, but I was planning on leaving a bit early. I was supposed to have dinner with a couple old friends, and they'll be upset if I skip again."

"Oh, right!" He fumbled through his clipboard, and folders loaded with papers until he found one. "I was wondering if you would be so kind as to fill out a letter of recommendation for me to go to an internship in Gotham. I hate to leave, but..."

"The opportunity is greater there? I understand entirely. Better for you to be closer to where you want to end up." Taking the paper with gentle hands, she gave out a small sigh. "Who is head of psychology at Gotham U now?"

"Well I'm not entirely sure, I know the last to be was Dr...uh, what's his name? I think it was Cree-"

"Crane. Jonathan Crane."

"Oh, yeah, but he's one of those Rogues now isn't he?"

"The Scarecrow is, yes. I believe Jonathan Crane is someone a bit different."

"What do you mean by that? You seem to know him. Did you go to college together or is it-?"

"I believe if you are to have in internship in Gotham you should do your thorough research on all of the Rogues. I'll mail this to the company tonight," she said glancing over the instructions on the paper.

"Thank you, Dr. Van Tassel, you don't know how much this means to me!" He gasped in shallowly. "Have you ever been to Gotham? I've only gone a couple times, but it's great. You must have gone to Gotham once or twice, there's probably tons on things you get invited to-"

"I've never had the displeasure of stepping into that city, and I don't plan on it."

"Well, why not?"

She pursed her lips, shutting the lights out in her office, and grabbing her keys.

"It's never interested me."

"You sound bitter."

"I probably am."

"You know you're not that much older than me, Dr. Van Tassel. I'm twenty, that's only like eight or nine years. I know you don't have many friends here. You can tell me-"

"Eric, please I need to get home. My reasons for not wanting to go to that disgusting city are my own."

"I just- of course. You are correct, I was out of line."

* * *

><p>The pit in Jude stomach seemed to grow until it was a gaping abyss. Each forced bite of the stale food seemed to drop until it somehow tried to come back up. It felt like buzzing flies were clinging to inside of her.<p>

"Are you alright, Jude? You look sick."

She jumped as Logan placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Jude?" He asked again. "If you want to go you can."

"Yeah, we know you work super long hours, and around all those crazies." Terra piped in.

"Well at least it's not Arkham, and around all those Rogues. Did you hear there was another escape?"

"No, oh my god, when are they going to get better security on that place? You would think that the Batman would spend more of his time trying to get the prisoners to stay in there instead of just slamming 'em back in every single-"

"Yeah, you know what? I think I am going to go. I didn't sleep well last night."

"Oh," they both cooed dejectedly.

"Well, we hope you feel better soon. Call me when you do, alright?"

She was already grabbing her purse, and standing.

"Yes, of course." The bland lie made the two sitting at the table cringe.

* * *

><p>George watched as the target stiffly lifted herself out of the taxi, and headed toward the apartment. He smacked his partner over the head, he had forgotten the name of the other man in the time it had taken to get from the lab to this hell hole. Another pointless job for another rich old woman out of her mind. This one was obsessed with birds, and the woman he was currently stalking down.<p>

His partner stumbled to his feet as he grabbed the needle, and steadily walked toward her. The partner seemed to struggled to keep the steady pace, holding a needle of his own. She was smaller, and much less intimidating than the old woman had made her sound.

Walking faster he clamped a clothed hand over her mouth, and shoved the needle into her neck. She struggled for a moment, it was animal-like just like most, but she seemed stronger for some reason. Perhaps he had underestimated her.

Just as George motioned for the other man to assist him, the body went slack in his arms, and he let out a gruff sigh of relief.

"So we just bring her back to the lab, and then we're done?" The other man asked as they took off in the van.

George gave another gruff nod at the smaller man sitting behind him. He ignored the greasy, blond hair, and scrawny arms. It was better to give him the benefit of the doubt, though it was easy to see he wouldn't last much longer in this line of work.

* * *

><p>The only thing that Jude could think when she finally woke was how cold it was, and how much her back hurt. Then all she could think of was the excruciating pain. Finally her eyes blinked open. As she reached to rub the sleep from her eyes, she felt another pain in her wrists. They were strapped to a table.<p>

Quickly her eyes and mind adjusted. The urge to scream, and pull at the metal bindings was strong, but couldn't. Besides there was something covering her mouth. Inside her cheeks her tongue felt like hard rubber.

"You're awake then, my birdy?" A fragile voice cooed.

Her eyes went wide as a woman appeared over her. Her eyes widened at the sight of her with her long, frizzy gray hair, and imperfect skin. Her eyes were deep brown, and hollow. She was grinning, and looked happier than Jude had ever seen another human being.

"I'm going to take this-" she tapped the contraption on Jude's mouth, making her flinch, and try to move her head away "-off of your sweet, little mouth. Shame I couldn't get a beak on you. You won't make a peep though. Promise me you won't?"

Jude couldn't move her head or mouth to answer either way. The woman tapped a few buttons on the side of the metal bed, and the clamp around her mouth was released. Her mind was buzzing. It was like an increase of adrenaline, but unlike she had felt before. It felt feral, like a scared animal. She felt petrified, but also as if she could move at the speed of light if she wanted to.

She realized her muscles felt heavy.

"What did you do to me?" She was surprised at how bored her tone sounded.

"Ah, so you speak, little birdy." The woman cooed again. "I've simply changed you, but it's for the better."

"Why me?"

Her hands felt free, and there was a snap as the metal clamps released her hands. Suddenly they were forced back onto the table, and she was on her bare stomach now. Her chin smacked against the table as a hole opened for her head to rest in.

There was a sudden pinching at her back. It was were the pain was coming from. A straight line from her shoulder blades down to the bottom of her waste felt bruised. The pinching got worse, and worse until she felt warm liquid spraying onto her back. Her body buckled in pain, but no noise came from her mouth.

"Why me?" She asked again.

The liquid kept seeping.

"I see my little birdy is doing well. I didn't expect these unfortunate side effects, but what can you do. The only way to make you perfect, I had to add a little bird. I chose you because you seemed so close to perfection anyhow. I read about you in papers all the time, and once I finally figured out everything it was just marvelous!"

"What do you mean everything?" Jude asked through clenched teeth. Tears were flowing down her face, but she still couldn't scream. The pain continued.

"You went to school with the famed Dr. Crane. I heard you two were pretty close once I did some digging. Also some mysterious deaths, but no one seemed to mind. Then you just seemed to disappear for a while. They all though you had run away, you know?"

"I recognized what was happening in the world at the time, yes."

"I heard some people, former classmates who were hunters, they saw Dr. Crane up in the woods sometimes carrying bags, and such." A strong West Virginian accent seemed to come out of nowhere the more she prattled on about Jude's life. "Do you know the scientific name for a crow?" The pinching stopped, but the pain continued. The muscle relaxants she had been forced had dulled the pain for now, but what could she do after?

The pinching slowly began, and then stopped on the other side.

"Let's see how you do with this."

She tensed as a needle was stuck in her side, and struggled on the table. The slick substance was dripping down her waist, and onto her stomach. The pinching began once again, but it hurt more this time. Then she tore at the thing on Jude's back, and threw it to another side of the room.

The reaction was late, and stuttered, but it came. The worst pain she had ever felt engulfed Jude until she could only see white. She heard things snapping.

Dr. Mary Orlov watched as her experiment rose from the bed, blood still dripping down her back where she had spliced off the beautiful black wings. They were useless attachments anyhow, and could not be used for actual flight. She watched the coldness she had seen only once before seep into her experiments eyes as Jude turned to face her, sitting up on the table.

"You're even more beautiful now than ever, my little-"

The woman before her moved quickly to run out of the small, dim operating room. The room was a mess, and the drugs had not completely worn off yet. The girl before her stumbled around, knocking over papers, and stacks, books, and barrels of this and that. Orlov watched her experiment carefully failing to realize she had created something much stronger than expected.

As she sat dumbly a vat of chemicals was suddenly thrust at her, and exploded at the glass around it shattered. She could only scream, and scream until the pain faded along with her consciousness.

* * *

><p>Jude's vision blurred in and out of perfect, and disoriented. The woman she had seen a moment ago was screaming now she thought. She couldn't tell. Suddenly she heard ripping, and tearing. Something warm gushed onto her face, and down her cheek.<p>

When she opened her eyes again she was lying, still naked in a dark, cold hallway. There was a dark door which she could barely recall having a blurry memory of. Hand-prints, and smeared blood coated the metal handle. The dark, drying red stood out against the faded blue paint. Something still smelled metallic, and coppery like blood.

As she sat up, she remembered the awful a pain in her back. Carefully she rose to her feet. Her arms wrapped protectively around her waist as she took labored steps to the nearest door. It felt like she had a fever the way her head was pounding, and how the world still seemed like it was spinning. She let the weight of her slumping body open the door to a brightly lit room piled high with books, needles, and clothes in bags with labels.

"I wasn't the first?" Her voice didn't sound right, but she could barely hear herself think. Falling to her knees in front of the first bag labeled 'CHRISTIAN DOLAN'. It didn't matter, she didn't have time to rummage through the nearly hundred bags to find her own.

Inside was well-kept, light blue dress shirt, khaki pants, and a belt. Shaking hands stained with drying blood unbuttoned the collar of the shirt.

* * *

><p>Jude arrived in her apartment shortly after the sun rose. She couldn't remember taking a car, or really how she got back, but suddenly she was home. Her eyes wandered to her wrinkled clothes. There was still a little blood under her fingernails. Shaking, she opened the door to her apartment, and stumbled inside. Everything was still so dim, and out of focus, but she had to keep going.<p>

Her legs carried to the bathroom where she slipped of an unfortunate man's clothing, and stepped into a hot shower that stung her back, and made her aching muscles cry out.

"I need to leave." The idea that hadn't stopped passing her mind finally made its way to her lips. "I need to leave Metropolis."

Where will you go? There's no where. No home, no family, no friends.

"Gotham." She answered herself. "That's where all the broken people go right?"

You don't know that you're broken, you lived. You must be special.

"There's nothing special about anything."

It was difficult to see her own back, but the two thick lines tracing down her were difficult to not notice even on one's own self.

* * *

><p>It took nearly a week by car, and train to go across the country to Gotham. In hind sight she thought it may have been simpler to get a plane, but that would've caused too many problems, and too many eyes. It was nerve-wracking enough to just walk out of her apartment.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks, I know this is a little late than usual, but I've been away from home, and very busy with a lot of tests and midterms coming up so this next one might take a while. We'll actually be in Gotham for the next one though so that's exciting, and Jonathan will come back in the next one soo whoo! Also I've been watching Misfits lately, and haven't gotten much done.<strong>

**To the Guest who reviewed: Yeah, she'll have something like that later. You'll see that the experiments did more of an emotional/mental toll than a physical one. She's not going to have super powers or anything just to clear that up. Also, I didn't have anyone famous in mind if that's what you're asking? It's awesome that you came up with your own person though to be honest, I just sort of based her off of this idea that I've had of this girl with dark blonde hair, and light blue eyes, but that's pretty much it. **

**Also thank you everyone else who reviewed, it means a lot!**


	5. Experiment

The chaos that the papers made Gotham out to be didn't seem real. Well, at least for the first hour or so that Jude wandered the city. All she had encountered so far were sad-looking, and broken people on the sides of the street begging for money. All of her bags had been left at a cheap room on the outskirts of the city she had rented for the night. She wasn't really sure what she was looking for. Deep down she figured she was angry with Jonathan for making her this way, or that was how she saw it.

When she had ran away from that lab it felt like something was different. She didn't have the same type of bone-crushing motivation or jittery-ness she had felt since was young. It was the same feeling that had had when killing her father, or Terra's ex. There was nothing. It was just something that had be done, it was almost boring.

She felt like she had no purpose in life, but at the same time she could rule the world. It felt wonderful, but also made her slip into genuine indifference.

While wallowing in her own empty confusion, someone grabbed her arm. Not having the energy or heart to fight back, she simply turned to look behind her.

"What do you want?" She spat out to the man in the green suit. Glancing at the cane in his other hand, almost comical she realized who he was. "Why is everyone so goddamn interested in me this week? Jesus fuck, can I just get one fucking day o-"

Something clamped over her mouth, and she was forced into silence.

"Why couldn't that twig just do this himself?" The Riddler let out a long, unhappy groan forcing her hands to be tied together with zipties, and picking up her ankles to do the same.

She pursed her lips, watching him.

"Mom and Dad have four daughters. Each daughter has one brother, how many brothers?"

"One," she answered fluidly as he forced her into the silent car that had crept upon her as she had walked up the abandoned street. Had it been abandoned before he had arrived? She couldn't remember now. "I thought you were supposed to be hard to understand."

"Only for the people I find interesting." He answered flippantly, shutting the door to the drivers side. "I'm not the one who finds you interesting. He might not either come to think of it, but I need you as a type of distraction. Might get in the way if he doesn't have something to occupy all his spare time with, y'know?"

"Oh."

"You know you're awfully calm for someone who was just kidnapped by a Gotham rogue."

"I've had a rough week."

He scoffed, and sped up the car.

Jude couldn't believe what was happening. She knew she should be panicking, but there was something to boring and predicted about the scene. It didn't matter where he was bringing her, or if her hurt her, or if she died in the next half hour.

"You're taking me to Jonathan then?" It was more of an obvious statement than a question really.

"Nah, to Scarecrow. He said something about some little girl who had just gotten herself in a lot of trouble with a bird lady near Metropolis; seemed absolutely giddy about the entire affair. I have some plans that he'll butt his skinny, little head into if he doesn't have a distraction. You're good enough of a psychological experiment, not to mean any disrespect of course." He said it plainly, and without meaning, but she wasn't offended either way.

"Does he know it's me?"

"Who are you? Did you know Crane?"

"Yes, for a long time. Or rather a long time ago."

The car skidded, and swerved. She thought it was amazing she didn't have a concussion yet with how many times her body had slammed into the door.

"Got any interesting stories-"

"What makes me so special? Why would I interest him now?"

"I'm interested in how you know Scarecrow now, but you'll find out about yourself soon enough." She didn't answered back the empty question. If he was so good at riddles he could figure it out himself. "Were you childhood lovers? Have some messy fumbling as teens? He tries to be secretive, but I don't think he's very good at it."

"So I'm going to be an experiment for him, yeah? I've already done that- I think I'll pass."

She could almost feel his eyes roll behind the purple mask, and something was pressed against her face. In a few moments everything got soft, and fuzzy, and everything went dark.

Jonathan Crane slammed the door to what the rest of the world thought was an abandoned building on the very edges of Gotham. The resounding click in the empty downstairs would have made him grin if he had the energy. An escape from Arkham never went without a little trouble, though it seemed as if the guards were well used to it by now. They barely tried to keep them from running out. Everyone was so reliant on the Batman that they had given up trying to protect the city. It made their jobs less dangerous, and they still got a paycheck for moping about at the end of the week.

He walked carelessly through the dark open, glancing up at the loft lining the perimeter. It was lit. There was something wrong. A moment of confusion ran through him, perhaps the Batman had found him. Though if that had been the case he would already be on the ground with two or more broken ribs.

No, it had to be someone else.

A sigh that nearly turned into a groan filled the empty air as he spun around on his heel. He tugged at his unruly hair, and walked back to the door. There was a note with a big, cartoonish question mark on the front.

Clenching his jaw, he snatched it from where it hung.

I've left you present, seemingly from your past. Though I do hope it brings along a lovely future.

"A present from my...?" He stared up into the dim, glowing light of the loft, and crumpled the paper in his bony hand. As he walked his steps echoed loudly on the concrete floor. His feet carried him so quickly up the metal staircase that it rattled.

The door swung open with an easy flourish, and he stomped into the pale light.

It was amazing all the noise hadn't woken her. The crumpled paper slipped from his hands. It took him a moment to recognize her. She looked different.

If possible she was paler, and her once wavy dark blonde hair was strikingly black and straight. She was wearing dirty tennis shoes, tight jeans, and a dark green blouse. He watched her chest rise, and fall evenly on the spare bed. How the Riddler had found her, he wasn't certain, but it didn't matter now. He had to test the possibilities of the experiment that she was to his own level. Noticing, and reaching for the other note beside her he saw that her arms, and ankles were still tied tightly.

"You didn't even try to fight back, did you? How pathetic..." He scoffed, and reached for a pair of scissors on the desk beside the bed. As her wrists were freed she began to squirm, and he watched as she woke. Her eyes opened a fraction of an inch. He could feel his heartbeat increase with excitement as she looked up at him, the terror that would spread across her face...

"Leave me alone for a while, yeah? It's been a long day."

He was left with his mouth slightly open as she rolled onto her side away from him.

"You know who I am then?"

"Nygma explained it on the way. He didn't know we knew each other though." She grumbled out.

"What did you tell him?"

The only thing he noted was how different her voice sounded.

"He said you were talkin' 'bout me," she mumbled through tired, sloppy words, "or rather how you knew about what that woman had done to me, and I asked if you knew it me, and he assumed you knew me before, or something like that. I'm not sure. Go away, I've had a rough week."

"Jude Van Tassel." He spoke deeply, and slowly.

She didn't speak back for a while. Eventually she slowly rose her body away from the warm bed, and stretched to pop her bones. Finally she turned to face him.

"Jonathan Crane."

He raised an expectant eyebrow.

"How do you feel?" He kept a rigid posture, still standing in front of her.

It was just like when they were kids, she thought. He always had to be the one who one, the one on top. She used to let him win because she knew he couldn't over anyone else. Not now though, he had won so many times since they had last seen one another she couldn't just back down now. She even rose to her own feet, still feeling a little woozy, but not showing it. Though she was still shorter than him, even more so now that he had grown a bit since they were younger, and had filled out only a bit. He still glowered down at her from over his glasses, but there was something different now.

"What makes me so interesting now then, huh? What did that woman do to me? Everyone seems to know, but me."

"You didn't answer my question."

She noticed the definite edge to his voice that hadn't been there twelve years ago.

"I don't care to. My question is more important."

"That's a matter of op-"

"Answer me."

He watched her eyes carefully. They had been lighter blue than his at one point, and were now a deep black. The whites of her eyes were muddled, and it seemed her irises extended a little out of where they should. Apparently there had been physical transformation with the experiment as well.

"Are you scared of me?"

"I've never been afraid of you, Jonathan."

He took a lingering step closer to her, noticing how open, and relaxed her posture was. Her breathing hadn't quickened, she hadn't even blinked.

"But you know what I am now. You must know what I can do."

"You've always been this way. Answer my question."

He dug a hand into her shoulder pulling her closer. Her eyes were locked with his in a silent battle. Meanwhile his other hand reached into his back pocket to pulled out a small aerosol of the Fear Gas.

"You haven't seen me in so long, how could you possibly know?"

Taking his hand from her shoulder he wrapped it around both her wrists holding them together, he sprayed the gas into her face holding her in place.

A small shriek came from her, but she only flinched. There were no wails of terror, and no thrashing to get away from her nightmares.

"What the hell do you think you're doing! I will not be your experiment again, Crane! I shouldn't even be in this damned city in the first place. I promised myself I wouldn't-"

He tossed her onto the bed, and took a seat at the desk trying not to look as excited as he felt.

"How do you feel?"

"I realize you may be the most qualified, but I'd rather not-"

"Answer me."

"First you can answer me."

"Don't be stupid, and answer it for yourself. Now answer."

She had dreaded the realization that had come to her. She was fearless. Literally fearless. And it was the most boring existence in the world.

"Pointless. But it's interesting, and exciting."

"At least you're more honest than you once were."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "We've been apart for a very, very long time, Jonathan. I know more about you than you do me now."

He offered a small, cold smirk and glanced at the desk. There was file left there for him of the documents of all the 'patients' Dr. Orlov had taken before what the rest of the world was announcing her 'accidental' death. Wordlessly he picked it up, and skipped to the last file.

"After you went to university in Metropolis you worked with a few chemical companies, but eventually moved to work as a therapist, and psychiatrist on Stryker's Island. Tsk, tsk now don't be such a copycat."

"I didn't become a bad person."

"No, but look here..." He raised an eyebrow, and smirked. "A woman who seemed to be in a relationship with one of your friends seemed to go missing a little while back shortly after there were some domestic charges filed against her."

"Are you saying I had something to do with it?"

"Even after all these years you ask the most moronic questions."

Jude bit the inside of her cheek to keep from slapping him. They hadn't seen each other in twelve years, and were still worlds apart yet he had the audacity to talk to her like this.

"Did you like helping those people?"

She looked up to see him half-sneering, almost in a twisted attempt at a grin.

"What? The prisoners on the Island? No, it was ridiculous, and pointless work. There wasn't too much wrong with most of them anyhow."

He closed the file, and set it back on the desk.

"In your professional opinion, is there 'too much wrong' with me?"

"You're doing what you think will better the world, but you can really be quite an idiot about it sometimes. You're still an ass, which doesn't surprise me, but you're much more confident now. If you're asking whether or not I would classify you as clinically or criminally insane then the answer is yes. You know that for yourself, Jonathan."

"And the rest of the Rogues? Are they just doing what they believe will 'better' the world? Are we all just our own superhero?"

"No, you're all idiots who take things a few steps too far. I didn't mean better the world in the actual sense of the term. I meant you're being selfish by doing what only you think is right. I'm not too fond of studying up on other Rogue's so I couldn't say."

He kept his eyes glued to her for a few more moments.

"You have to fear something." He said after the silence had been dragged dead. "You used to have this odd fear of scarecrows when we were younger, do you remember? And conflict. You hated the shouting, and yelling so much you would cry every time someone got in a fight in the hallway. Weak and pathetic."

"I suppose I did." She answered blandly. It was obvious he wanted a rise out of her, but she was too tired to play along. "Like you've showed me I don't fear anything any longer. Spray me with more fear gas, take apart my brain piece by piece, do whatever you want just don't ask me question that you don't really need to answer to. I've been a doctor just as long as you have, and have even surpassed you some sense. In case you have forgotten in our many years apart there has been changes in both of us. If you could somehow get me to be able to fear again a part of me would be grateful. If you can't then I guess it is what it is."

"I do not wish to make you fear. Right now, in theory, you could possibly be the most perfect human in the psychological sense. Without fear you can do anything. There are no limits. Though it would be entertaining to see what could possibly make you fear; at this point I have no desire to. In a sense all I want to do is test you limits, and push you. See how far I can get you to the brink. Trust me, I don't undervalue your intelligence Dr. Van Tassel, I never have, and your current achievements don't fail to... mildly impress me."

She shifted on the bed, and lad upon her stomach expecting him to continue rambling on. When he took a pause for air, or to stop she interjected.

"So this is all a test to see if Orlov's experiment worked?"

He gave a curt nod, and stood stiffly.

"Huh, interesting. Am I staying here for the night then?"

"Yes."

"What if I want to leave?"

"You don't. And you can't. This entire warehouse is locked, and only I have the keys." He stuck a bony hand into his pants pocket, and jingled them around for her to hear.

"I could come, and take them from you in the night."

"I barely sleep, and you won't."

"Why won't I? In your professional opinion why in the world wouldn't I of all people want to leave a big, scary, dangerous Gotham Rogue like you?"

He rolled his eyes, and snatched the large file from the desk. "You don't have anyone else."

Grimacing through a smile, she brought the blanket over her head as the door closed with a gentle click.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry this might be a little late I have a lot of midterms, and tests coming up, and I've been studying for them. I've been watching Misfits too, have any of you guys seen that show I love it I'm almost halfway done with it. The dynamic between Jonathan and Jude is a little odd right now because they're both still trying to act with each other like they did when they were kids, but they're really really not the same people at all. At their cores they kind of are, but especially with Jude's lack-of-fear thing going now she's a lot different, and maybe a little more cynical and hard. She went to Gotham just in a little hope of being far away from Metropolis, and wanted the chance to be closer to Jonathan because at the time she could still feel a bit of fear, but it slowly went away, and now she can't feel any.<strong>


End file.
